ABSTRACT
The essence of constructive crime is that liability for one offence is based upon the commission of another less serious offence. It was once the law that a person was guilty constructively of murder if he killed in the course of a felony, and guilty of manslaughter if he killed in the course of a misdemeanour. Although the felony murder rule was abolished by the Homicide Act 1957 and the distinction between felonies and misdemeanours was abolished by the Criminal Law Act 1967, this species of manslaughter remains. Liability for the death of the victim is constructed upon an ‘unlawful act’ for which the defendant would have been liable even if death had not resulted, and which is causally related to the death.
